Ruby: Most concise way to use an ENV variable if it exists, otherwise use default value

Question

In Ruby, I am trying to write a line that uses a variable if it has been set, otherwise default to some value:

myvar = # assign it to ENV[\'MY_VAR\'], otherw         


        

Answer 1

myvar = ENV['MY_VAR'] || 'foobar'

N.B. This is slightly incorrect (if the hash can contain the value nil) but since ENV contains just strings it is probably good enough.